The SPIDER Gaming Community originated in 2010 during the open beta of APB, a third-person, Grand Theft Auto style game. Today, the player base is primarily English-speaking Europeans who use a dedicated voice server to communicate while gaming together.

Born on the streets of San Paro

Back in 2010, a core leadership team comprised of Follower, SethAltF4, and PackOfHighly attracted members and formed a new group labelling themselves SPIDER (San Paro Inter District Emergency Response); purposefully linked to APB's fictional metropolis.

Unfortunately, just a few months later, APB developer Realtime Worlds was placed into administration. Game servers were shut down, players were turned away, and the impact rippled through the newfound community.

At this time, the decison was taken to expand the group's support to non-APB titles in order to help keep the group intact. Shortly after this transformation, the role of community leader was handed over from Follower to Zimtok5.

Under new management

Since having taken over the role in 2010, Zimtok5 has refreshed the SPIDER brand by setting up SpiderGaming.org and authoring regular e-mail campaigns to keep players well informed about upcoming community events.

Community meetings help to funnel feedback from the player base and have resulted in material changes to how SPIDER operates, such as opening up voluntary donations on the website and initiating a series of 'Old Games Eve' events where classic favourites such as Left 4 Dead and Counter-Strike: Source are played.